Okie From Muskogee - Torron Zorro

From Kansas to Oklahoma ... The brothers Mika and Turkka Mali (see earlier entry) recorded "Torron Zorro" (Zorro from Torro) in 1978 for their debut album "Runkomäen iltamat". The hilarious Finnish lyrics were made by Turkka Mali. Torro is a village near Forssa, where the brothers Mali originate from. The original song was called "Okie From Muskogee" and it was a huge country and cross-over hit for Merle Haggard in 1969. It was written by Haggard and Roy Edward Burris (drummer for Haggard's backing band, The Strangers) during the height of the Vietnam War. The song depicts small-town life, where conservative values were the norm. The singer states how proud he is to hail from Middle America, where its residents were patriotic, and didn't smoke marijuana, take LSD, wear beads and sandals, burn draft cards or challenge authority. Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma. "Okie" is denoting a resident or native of Oklahoma. You can see Merle perform the "Okie" -song, here


Here's the pair:

Wine with Dinner - Runkomäen iltamat

"Runkomäen iltamat" (Dance ball in Runkomäki) was the song that put brothers Mali in the spotlight and in the top of charts in 1978. Mika ja Turkka Mali was vocal duo from Forssa, Finland and often used local ingredients in their songs. Like in this "Runkomäen iltamat". Runkomäki was the most popular place for dancing in Forssa region in the 50's and 60's, and the song tells about the atmosphere and events in those Runkomäki dance balls. The lyrics in the original song "Wine with Dinner" are somewhat different, and actually I wonder why Turkka Mali (who was the Finnish lyricist, and written over 2500 song texts since!) didn't copy the idea of excessive drinking, and the results of it, into the Finnish version. Becouse it would have suited very well for Finns ... The writer of the original song and text was Loudon Wainwright III, an American songwriter, folk singer, humorist and actor. The song is from his 1976 album "T Shirt". BTW, Loudon is the father of musicians/singers Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright.

Here's the pair: